The Spellcaster's Staff
by Joeylejoker
Summary: After GE, assuming PG never happens. The UK finally decides to pull out of America, however troops are stuck there. And saving them means they need all the help they can get. Including Nathaniel. However a strange & powerful magician bars their way. B & N
1. Real Prolouge

**_Summary of Bartimaeus Trilogy_**

Hello Readers! Over time I have come back to make some edits to my chapters. This edit in particular I am making prior to the release of chapter 12. While reading my story a few times over, I have realized that I need to put a real prologue. The one I have right now just sets up the story. Overall, what I am trying to say is that I am going to post a short summary about the Bartimaeus trilogy for those of you who have not read it. As this story will be very complicated if you do not know what is going on. Anyway! Let's get to it..

That Bartimaeus Trilogy is set in London, the time it takes place is un-known. London is fairly modern, but it is still a large empire covering all of Europe. In the story, London is ruled by magicians. The rich power hugging ministers who derive their powers from spirits. They summon multitudes of servants, from the weak imp, to the obnoxious foliot, to the average Djinni, the strong Afrits, and the all powerful marids. Some Magicians have even tried to summon spirits stronger than normal Spirits. Who leave paths of destruction wherever they walk, not always the best things to summon...

The story is about a magician's apprentice named Nathaniel. Who after being humiliated by a magician named Simon Lovelace, sets out for revenge. Secretly he excels his training. To the point when he summons the funny, witty, powerful Djinni Bartimaeus. Most chapters are told from the view of Bartimaeus, hence the name "The Bartimaeus Trilogy." However there are lots of rules to summoning spirits, it has to be done in a pentacle, you must say the incantations perfectly, draw the markings perfectly, and lay out the necessary runes and herbs. If not, the spirits can break free and kill you. Another way for you to break the the bindings on the spirit is if you step out of the pentacle. Many spirits try to scare you into running away and breaking the spell, if a spirit steps out of their pentacle they are pretty much screwed. Another thing which needs to be done is to keep your birth name a secret from your servant. Nathaniel's birth name is Nathaniel, so he usually goes by John Mandrake. Spirits can turn spells against you using your birth name, and rivals of yours can use it against you.

In the first book, when Nathaniel summons Bartimaeus he sends the Djinni to steal Lovelace's greatest treasure: the amulet of Samarkand. However, doing so gets Nathaniel tied up in Lovelace's plot to massacre the government and take over the roll as prime minister himself. On top of that, Bartimaeus learns Nathaniel's birth name. To force Bartimaeus to help Nathaniel and to not reveal his birth name to anyone. Nathaniel casts a spell which will in a few months bind Bartimaeus into a tin full of rosemary (which is bad for spirit's essence) at the bottom of the Thames. This way, Bartimaeus has to obey Nathaniel and keep him alive so he can release the enchantment.

In the end Nathaniel and Bartimaeus save the day, saving the government and stopping Lovelace. Nathaniel becomes a rising star in the government, and Bartimaeus gets dismissed.

During the story however, there is a small sub plot of the growing "resistance" made up of "commoners" who want to over throw the government. They steal magical weapons such as inferno sticks and elemental spheres to use against magicians.

In the second book, Nathaniel is assigned the duty of finding the resistance whom are causing tons of damage all over London. However, a new more powerful crime spree breaks out across London. However no one knows what it is. They all think it's the resistance, which causes lots of blame to shift towards Nathaniel. However, he does not think it is the same group. The attacks are much more brutal. So once again, he must summon Bartimaeus to assist him.

Meanwhile, a new main Character is unearthed. And many chapters are told from her view, her name is Kathleen, but she goes by "Kitty." She is one of the members of the resistance, in her part of the story, the resistance tries to break into the tomb of "Gladstone." The most powerful magician of all time, and founder of the British Empire. However, their break in goes wrong and releases a crazy, powerful Afrit named Honorius who bears Gladstone's staff. A very powerful magical item. Before Gladstone died, he warned people to never cross into his tomb. What people do not know is that he merged one of his Afrits into his corpse. So the Afrit has been there for centuries guarding Gladstone's possessions.

Meanwhile, Nathaniel still under pressure is sent to the Czech Republic where they discover the attacks are being made by a "Golem." A powerful magical being used in the old wars between the Czech and the British. What's more interesting is that the people who are behind the Golem attacks are the same people who were in on the Lovelace incident. In the end Nathaniel and Bartimaeus save the day with some help from Kitty. The Golem is destroyed, Gladstone's staff is taken into custody, and Nathaniel becomes one of the most powerful ministers in the government.

However during all of this, the government starts growing very unsteady. Unable to hold back protests, the resistance keeps getting worse, blowing up buildings and causing trouble using stolen weapons such as: inferno sticks, detonations, and elemental spheres. Foreign wars in America are not going well, and the government is starting to lose control. On top of that, there may even be some rebelling from the mistreated spirits. The government has many sections and people, all striving for power, trying to destroying rivals, and get on the prime minister's good side.

I do not have to summarize the third book, as my fanfiction takes place after the second book. It is about the foreign wars.

**_Info about Spirits_**

There are different types of spirits; all with different qualities. In order of weakest to strongest they are Imps, Foliots, Djinni, Afrits, and finally Marids. There are even some spirits who are rarely summoned, who are stronger then even marids. A couple notable entities are Nouda and Ramuthra who appear throughout the trilogy.

Spirits come from another world known as "the other place." Where a whirlwind of all spirits, memories, and colors whip around with no physical containment; free to whirl and dance among the other specks of color. However, when summoned to earth. Spirits are forced to take on some sort of shape. Which they do not like, they claim that being on earth also pains them. And after a while, they will start getting weaker and will have to be sent back to the other place so they can recover.

When spirits are on earth, they gain the ability to cast spells. Such as shields, attacks (detonations and infernos), concealments, and more. They can also shape shift into different forms.

There are seven different planes on which the world is viewed. Imps can view the first few, so can Foliots. Higher spirits can view them all. Humans can view the first, and cats can view the second. Humans however have designed glasses which help them see the first few planes.

Essentially, viewing the plane is viewing what an object truly is. Let's say you saw a cat, it may look like a cat. But if you look on the higher planes it could be a spirit in disguise. A Djinni for example can appear as anything on all planes. But on the seventh, a spirit cannot hide its true form.

There are many more boundaries in magic, but they can be described later.

**Notable Spirits Include –**

Queezle – A friend of Bartimaeus' from Prauge, she was killed by the golem. Bartimaeus was very sad about this.

Faquarl – Bartimaeus' old rival, was a servant for Lovelace. Slightly more powerful then Bartimaeus, preferred form is a chef.

Jabor – Was also a servant of Lovelace, and long time enemy of Bartimaeus. Jabor is fairly stupid, however he is a war hungry spirit.

Ascobal – Annoying spirit who Bartimaeus worked with in the third book of the trilogy.

**Notable Ministers of the Government – **

Mr. Underwood – Nathaniel's first master, very weak and not the best magician, killed by Lovelace.

Mrs. Whitwell – Nathaniel's Second master, old stick thin women, powerful magician however, one of the strongest in the government. Head of security.

Mr. Devereaux – the beloved prime minister of great Britain! Great at speeches, described as handsome...

Mr. Mortensen – The Head of war.

Ptolemy – There is a lot to say about Ptolemy, he played a large role in the whole trilogy. Although he was thousands years dead, having lived in ancient Egypt. Bartimaeus loved Ptolemy, he treated Bartimaeus like an equal, not a slave. He did so with all his spirits. He dreamed of a world where spirits and humans lived in peace. He was a scholar, and a teenager when he died. Assassinated by his jealous cousin, who was heir to the throne. Ptolemy devised a way for humans to cross into the other place.

joeylejoker


	2. Chapter 1: Prolouge

_**Prologue: Nathaniel**_

"_This is the last time John! You have no opinion on this matter, our troops are stuck over there in America; and we need a new army fast to get them out! So stop passing around flyers to join the army, and actually join it yourself!"_

The conversation Nathaniel and Rupert had had echoed through Nathaniel's head. He could not believe that the PM would force him to join the army. Still, he was right. The army needed to be rescued, and the only chance they would have of doing so is if all the magicians in London joined the army.

"_But sir, I am your Information minister you can't possibly expect me to go into the war zone!"_

"_Mandrake, the fact that you __**are**__ my Information Minister is __**why **__I am asking you to do this! We need some strong magicians over there, and you will do a fine job. Think of it this way, those soldiers are over there because of you. So you need to get them out."_

Nathaniel knew there was no point fighting with Devereaux. Once he made up his mind there was no stopping him. That was why he was the bloody Prime Minister!

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_Hey people, I am just posting this because it occured to me the number of people reading my story dropped straight after reading this chapter. It is short and does not draw you in, well I am sorry for this. Its not the strongest begining, however i assure you. Around the 8th chapter (I am posting this as chapter 7 has just been posted) it gets a lot more interesting. Please, Please stick with me. This story will take off._

_joeylejoker_


	3. Chapter 2

_**Bartimaeus**_

I felt the familiar pull on my essence, again and again it tugged; again and again I resisted. Today I was even more reluctant to go than usual. It was not that I was weak or anything, I just felt tired and kind of lazy; and frankly leaping over burning buildings, sneaking into houses, battling rouge spirits, and fighting wars is not really what I wanted to do today (1). Another tug came; this one was much more violent than the others. With a quiet sigh which was whipped away into the swirling mess that is the other place, I submitted this time.

I had been summoned so many times by Mandrake, that I had memorized the strength of his pull; the pull of an experienced magician. Suddenly my essence cut through the clouds, a ghost drifting among the world as I lowered down towards a house. That was when I realized that the house I was drifting down into was not a house, it was a hut! I looked around the surrounding area instead of staring straight down, and saw that I was not in London. I was in America.

God damn it! That little oath breaker, he finally did it! He finally put me on the list of demons to be recruited for the war! Well fine, perhaps I could survive this! However, I doubted Mr. John Mandrake would. Or should I say Nathaniel? I would make sure every single spirit from imp-marid knew his true name, well... perhaps not imps. They were to annoying and obnoxious to have the privilege of knowing his name (2).

Down, down, down I drifted until my essence touched the roof of the hut. Gathering my essence, I contorted myself into a giant Minotaur. Perhaps, the magician who summoned me was not one of much experience; then my hopes died when I remembered the strength of the summoning. No, the magician was fairly strong. I looked down; now my shoulders were passing through the roof. Finally my head started to be immersed in the roof of the hut. I did not bother shutting my eyes; the roof of the hut was made out of leaves, and I knew that it was only about an inch thick.

Finally my head emerged on the other side of the leaves, and I looked down upon the magician who has summoned me. The once sleepy half-smile on my face turned to a scowl as I saw who it was standing in the opposite pentacle. It was my long time favourite companion Nathaniel. I swore in ancient Arabic under my breath.

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(1) Just pointing this out in case you didn't notice. After all, I am sure if I did not point this out you would have wondered _"Why? Why did the great Bartimaeus not want to fight when he was tired and sleepy?_" My god you humans are thick.

(2) When I say this, I think of the little imp Nathaniel has imprisoned in his scrying disk.

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_Well! What did everyone think? Please Please Please Please Please review!_


	4. Chapter 3

_**Bartimaeus**_

We stared at each other for a few minutes. Me with my Minotaur hands on my hips, and him standing in the opposite pentacle both hands down at his side, gaze un-shifting. "Well get on with it!" I said, swinging a hand towards him in annoyance. The tip of my finger grazed the edge of the pentacle, I immediately withdrew my hand.

"Bartimaeus..."

"Bartimaeus what?" I interrupted, "Bartimaeus I am sorry I brought you into a war zone! Bartimaeus I am sorry I didn't keep my side of the deal, please keep yours? Bartimaeus..."

I drifted off here when I heard him starting to talk again.

"Bartimaeus, shut up! I am here in America and I need a good guard. I have chosen you, does that not flatter you?!"

"Does that flatter me?! (1) No, it doesn't! Nathaniel, you promised me that you would not ever make me come to this place. In return I have not told anyone your silly little birth name! Now you break the promise just like that?! Well let me tell you something you snobby little brat! I will make sure that every single spirit in the other place is singing your name with glee as they drift down through the skies of your world, I will make sure they are all begging to be in your service just so they can escape! I will make sure every single magician in the land shouts your names from the roofto-"

I stopped when I heard the first syllable of the shrivelling fire. I may have known his birth name, but if I was talking too much to have time to cast a counter spell; I would still end up barbecued. He stopped the spell when he realized I had stopped yelling and had braced myself.

"Nathaniel, send me back to the other place," I said more calmly. "We had a deal. You cannot possibly expect me to hold my side of the promise if you keep me in this god forsaken country."

He continued to just stare at me, well... not at me. Just in my direction, his gaze more distant as if he was staring in wonder at something behind me. Why was it always so difficult with him? Why was it that you always had to yell and scream to get his attention (2)?

"Bartimaeus, listen to me! I do not want to be here anymore than you do. But nevertheless I have to, what is more. Chances are I might die on this trip if I do not have a good demon at my side."

"Djinni," I corrected.

He scowled, than continued, "fine, 'Djinni' at my side. Either way, the point is I need a good guard if I am to survive my time here, and you are the best guard I know."

I could not believe he was expecting me to buy this crap! Yes, I would not mind working as a guard for him any more than I would another magician, but in America? Hell no I say! Hell no! The next second I found myself screaming "Hell no" over and over again at him.

"Ah, I thought you might say that" he said, a smile starting to form on his lips. "You do not have a choice in the matter."

"No choice?" I yelled, laughing so hard I nearly fell out of the pentacle. "Nathaniel! I know your birth name, how does that not get me any opinion on the matter?"

I threw my hands up for dramatic effect on the last word, my nails grazed the pentacle again. He really made this one small; I changed my form into Ptolemy.

"Bartimaeus, do you remember how I first dealt with you when you learned my birth name."

I thought about it for a second than said, "Nathaniel, I hate you. I really do."

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(1) Actually yes, it did kind of. But I was not about to let go of my freedom just to have the 'honour' of guarding a pretentious little brat. No, right now I wanted to be drifting in the other place.

(2) I repeat, HUMANS ARE THICK!

_Well! I hoped you like this chapter guys! I thought I did a great job on it, please for the love of god leave reviews! I want to hear what everyone thinks! Roadrunnerkirby, thanks for the cookie! And that word which was repeated was supposed to be repeated. I assume your referring to when I said "had had." Cause read it again, it should be that way. _


	5. Chapter 4

_**Nathaniel**_

"Bartimaeus, do you remember how I first dealt with you when you learned my birth name." Bartimaeus thought about this for a second than said, "Nathaniel, I hate you. I really do."

Nathaniel gestured towards a table where a tin can of rosemary was sitting on.

Than emitting a triumphant laugh, he realized he has been holding his breath. He may have had the upper hand in this situation, but you never knew with Djinni; they were a tricky type.

"So Natty-Boy what is my charge?" asked Bartimaeus

"Bartimaeus of Uruk, I charge you to serve as my personal guard, and my assistant. Right now as my assistant, you are to go register yourself among the rest of the Djinni here in America. The register tent is at the south part of Camp, you are dismissed."

After Bartimaeus left the tent, Nathaniel picked up the can filled with rosemary which was sitting on his desk (1), than he walked to the hut exit. He had to do two things: Deposit the Can of rosemary somewhere, and go for a quick meeting at the control tent. As he left his hut he looked in a mirror, and adjusted his suit. The camp was about a square kilometre in size, and made up of lines and lines of huts north of the control tent. It was located along Dorchester Bay. The rescue forces had chosen to camp there given there was lots of water, and it wasn't too south of Boston; which remained the only city the British had managed to capture. While the main enemy forces – the Indians – had the real British army stuck down in Providence.

Nathaniel walked out of his tent, turned to his left and walked around the hut to the back where he kept going south until he was at the control tent; he walked past the large red pavilion and towards the water where he tied the can to a large rock with some rope he had found in the supply hut.

Then, pulling his arm back in preparation to throw, he suddenly thought of something. He put the rock down on the ground in front of him and snapped his fingers. A small brown imp appeared at his side. "Yes Master?" the little imp croaked. "Take this can and fly out to the middle of the bay, once there drop it in to the water. The imp went to pick up the can, when he jumped back. "Oh, the pain... It is as if the can is electrocuted." The imp groaned. Nathaniel, rolling his eyes said, "It contains rosemary if you must know." With a look distress the imp picked up the can, and muttering silent curses flew out over the bay.

Nathaniel waited until the Imp was out of sight before retracing his steps to the red pavilion, and pushing back the entrance flaps of the large control tent, walked in.

The tent was very large, and contained 3 parts; separated by a wall of red cloth. The first part was the entry hall, which contained 4 chairs and a desk with a secretary sitting at it. The second part was a large meeting room which could fit up to 15 chairs, and the last part of the tent was Carl Mortensen's –the new war minister- office. Nathaniel walked past the secretary's desk; giving the secretary a nod as he walked through another flap and into the meeting room. The dim red light coming through the pavilion illuminated the mahogany table, and made it look as if it was painted red. On the left hand side of the table were the 10 captains of the rescue army, and at the head of the table was Carl Mortensen with a bright smile on his face.

"Ahh, Mandrake. You are here! Please sit; please sit so we may get started," said Carl, gesturing towards the only chair on the right side. "Minister Mortensen, what have you called us all here for today? We are trying to prepare our soldiers for the march on Providence," stated one of the captains. Carl Mortensen frowned then said, "Well, let me start. I just got a message imp from Devereaux; he has sent some small reinforcements. A group of 10 magicians managed by Whitwell! But here is what is so exciting; they bring with them the amulet of Samarkand and Gladstone's staff." This last declaration left the captains and Nathaniel with their mouths gaping open.

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(1) Barti's Footnotes only appear in his chapters. I am writing this here to explain that in AOS Nathaniel bound Bartimaeus into a can of Rosemary to keep him from telling his true name. Rosemary is bad for spirits.

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_Well! I hope you all like this chapter! I really like it, its ok I guess. But the last revelation is breath taking. You know the story is getting interesting. So please review review review! I want reviews, I love reviews. I write for reviews._


	6. Chapter 5

_Author Note_

_I love writing from Bartimaeus view, it's so easy. Yet, yields great results! From Bart's view, you can write a good story easily. Which is why this chapter is from his view, the chapter is also from his view to annoying you about the staff revelation. You will have to wait to find out about... what you don't really know you want to find out about. The fact is something cool will happen. Definitely, some staff battle action. That is what you want to see, however you will have to wait... and review. To find out what happens with the staff. Anyway, I will not delay any longer; I present to you the fifth chapter of the spell caster's staff!_

_P.S. Read the footnotes, they get funny. Well, at least 2 and 3 are._

_**Bartimaeus**_

After departing Nathaniel's hut, I walked south as he instructed to the register tent. The register tent was low and grey. Yep, this was definitely an army tent. No doubt about it, I could just picture this tent set up west of Prague with injured soldiers checking out... good times. I walked up to the tent, pulled back the grey cloth drapes, and stepped in. The inside was just as gloomy as the outside, the walls were grey, the ceilings were low, and the tent was bare of all furniture save for 2 chairs – which were also grey – and a desk. An old man with lots of wrinkles sat behind the desk. I assumed he was the secretary because he was furiously working through paperwork.

"Hello Wrinkly Person!" I said cheerfully, like always my nice Bartimaeus greeting got all the attention on me. It even encouraged him to talk! Wow, I am great.

"Shut up you wretched demon. You are here to register not talk, understood?!"

I raised my hand.

"How am I supposed to register if I cannot talk? Also, am I in trouble for talking right now?"(1) You will talk only on the bases of yourself being registered, and yes; you are in trouble. He muttered a few syllables and waved his hand, a small detonation slammed into me; flinging me back towards the entrance to the tent. (2) ''What the hell! How am I supposed to register if I am dead?" I shouted (3)

He just stared at me, face screaming with boredom. It was weird how he was very calm all of a sudden. "Demon, just get on with it so we can both be on our way." He said. I sighed, "Bartimaeus of Uruk registering as body guard for Nat- I mean John Mandrake." He nodded, and then dismissed me. (4)

I walked out of the tent, and felt the sun's rays warm my essence. It was a very warm day, and the sun was bright over head. I turned to my right and looked out across the body of water. I did not know which lake or ocean it was. But I assumed it would be some part of the Atlantic coast. The sun rays glittered across the water making bay look like a giant sapphire. Memories of my days in Egypt flood back into me, how Ptolemy had let me run around the Earth without a charge. How I had been able to see the wonders of the world... I snapped out of my trance, right now things were different; and chances are they would stay the same until the end of my days. I turned my back towards the lake, turned into a falcon and flew back to Nathaniel's hut.

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(1) The way his face turned a deep red told me that this was going to be a fun meeting!

(2) Notice how I will not ask any more intelligent, worthwhile questions, nor point out certain facts about his character in nice greetings.

(3) After this one...

(4) Not back to the other place, just from his tent. Like I always say, when you talk to humans you must point these things out. Reason? Humans are thick...

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**PLEASE REVIEW!!**

I know nothing happened in this chapter, but I thought it might be nice to just have a little chapter from Barti's view. Also, I am still thinking about what I will do with the staff for the next few chapters.

Anyway, cheers!

joeylejoker


	7. Chapter 6

_Author Note_

_Hey everyone, I am sorry this chapter is late. I was with my family celebrating Canadian thanksgiving. Anyways, it is a bit longer than most of my chapters, so hopefully that makes up for the tardiness. It is a very interesting chapter and is very exciting. _

_Cheers,_

_Joeylejoker_

_**Bartimaeus**_

I had been back at the hut for over an hour before Nathaniel got back. He walked into the hut with his face blank, his eyes staring off into space...

"Ello Natty-Boy!" I chimed.

He jumped, "oh, hi Bartimaeus." He sat down on a chair still looking fairly distant. "Well then! Should I get a bucket of water, or are you going to drift back to reality on your own?"(1) He shook his head and looked at me, a smile stretching across his face. Oh shit, that meant something was wrong. I sighed and looked at him waiting for the task which would obviously lead to my death. "What evil scheme has my master decided to come up with today?" I asked. "It is not that Bartimaeus... Britain is sending the staff here!"

Normally I wouldn't give much thought to the events and actions that took place in human society, but my eyes widened here, this was interesting, "Gladstone's staff?" I asked. I received an excited nod in return. Well this was a fun little twist! I was glad that for once I would be on the side wielding the staff instead of getting blasted by it. "So, do you get to be the one to wield the staff?" I questioned. His smile faded as quickly as it had come, "umm, I didn't really ask." I had succeeded in making his smile fade to a worried look by now, "Well..." He drifted off, "I am sure that I would be the one to wield it. After all, it was my idea to use it!"

This was just what I needed; he was more trying to convince himself now. I walked to his bed and slumped down on it, watching as his face turned paler and paler. He got that distant look in his eyes that he had had when he had walked in to the hut. He shook his head again and looked at me, "Well, time to get to business." He announced. I got up off his bed, and stretched a bit, than started jogging on the spot a bit. "So where are we going now Nat?" He stopped midway to his desk and looked at me. "Oh, we are not going anywhere..." I looked at him for a moment, and then finally it dawned on me. "Oh, I get it." He continued on his way to his desk, bent down, and took a jar of rosemary out of a cabinet. Then taking a tiny piece out, set the jar down; and threw the little piece of rosemary at me. I yelped as the little leaf passed through my essence, stinging me. He nodded, "good, the rosemary is in hasn't spoiled." I responded with a glare as I rubbed my side; realizing that since I had come back to the hut I had changed without noticing from a falcon into Ptolemy.

After Nathaniel placed out the runes and herbs for summoning, he gestured to me. I walked over to the pentacle which was made up of 5 pentacles facing a large one – Nathaniel's – (2). As I crossed into what looked like one of the larger pentacles, I thought for a moment of messing up the chalk which made it. I didn't though; now that I was here in America, I was anxious to see what would happen.

He took a deep breath, lowered his head, shut his eyes, and started chanting. He chanted long and hard, I listened closely to the words; every single syllable was pronounced perfectly. Then he said a name very loudly and a Djinni appeared in one of the pentacles – but he did not stop chanting; he continued to recite various phrases, words of binding, and summoning, The chant never faltering, just going on and on until the amount of spirits that had been summoned filled his multi-pentacle. By the end of the summoning, the pentacle contained – including me - 4 Djinni and an Afrit facing Nathaniel. He chanted the last few words of the summoning than stopped. He sat down on the ground suddenly tired by the summoning. I took this opportunity to find out more about my fellow spirits.

"So who are all of you then?" I piped.

One by one they took turns introducing themselves, starting with the Djinni to my right.

"I am Negabor."

"I am Ascobal." (3)

"Hello Bartimaeus."

I jumped with surprise at the sound of my name, than flicking to the seventh plane swore under my breath. One of the other Djinni Nathaniel had summoned was Faquarl. "Hello Faquarl," I replied. Faquarl displayed an amused smile before turning back to face Nathaniel. The last spirit to introduce himself was the Afrit; all of us Djinni (excluding Faquarl) looked eagerly towards him. With a sigh he said,

"You Djinni are pathetic, acting like kindergarteners introducing themselves on the first day of school. Nevertheless my name you all should surely know, I am rekoj el yeoj!" (4)

At this we all jumped, most Afrits are just power house spirits, essentially just a stronger form of Djinni. But rekoj el yeoj? No, he was different; he was like no other Afrit. He was smart, cunning, powerful, experienced, resourceful, witty... (5) He was a very powerful Italian Afrit, who had when fighting at the fall of Rome defeated 2 Marids single handed. He had broken into Prague one time and assassinated a whole regiment of the Czech army. He had leaded the Roman army down on Alexandria and the rest of Egypt and in many different battles. He was a true warrior.

Finally Nathaniel recovered, standing up from his sitting position. He said. "I charge you all, Negabor, Ascobal, Faquarl, and rekoj el yeoj to serve under my control, and fight for the British forces. Right now you are to accompany me on my errands as body guards before you all attend training. You may begin!" He waited until we all had stepped out of our pentacles before he crossed his own. It was smart of him, if he had stepped out first just leaving us with a first dismissal, t rekoj would have incinerated him within a heartbeat.

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(1) I was hoping he picked the first choice.

(2) I don't know why the master always has the bigger pentacle. It is not like he or she is taking up so much room. They are only human; they do not have to take on the form of a Minotaur or something else.

(3) Faithful Bartimaeus fans will remember Ascobal from PG.

(4) Rekoj el yeoj is pronounced... Wreck-awj-L-yoy

(5) I could go on all day, but I do not think any of you would like that; bottom line is that rekoj el yeoj was probably one of the most powerful Afrits ever summoned.

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_Hey guys, I hope you all enjoyed this Chapter. It's very interesting, and things do take place in it. Most defiantly there will be a lot of Faquarl and Bartimaeus stuff in there. And you will all begin to learn more about rekoj el yeoj. Pronounced Wreck-awj-L-yoy! Once again I am sorry it was late. Please Review, joeylejoker._

_**Also if you liked this story check out Through the Fire and Flames by Allendra. **_


	8. Chapter 7

_Author Note_

_Oh, you are all going to like this chapter. Maybe it will not be the greatest chapter you ever read. But it is interesting, written from a totally new view. You will all get to see the world through the view of another spirit... ok; I know that Mr. Stroud did this once with Simpkin. But trust me, you will find this interesting. You may not like it, but do not worry. Chapters from Rekoj el Yeoj's view should get better. Until then, you will have to cope with this chapter. Just sit back and admire the new style of writing. It is a lot more thought through then chapters from Bart's view._

_Joeylejoker_

_**Rekoj el Yeoj**_

_My new master was not ordinary in anyway. For one, he was a mere child; yet a child who had summoned me with the strength of a very old and experienced magician. On top of that, for once I was not so eager to be in the human world. Not so pumped up and ready to fight, make narrow escapes, and annihilate armies. Is this what being like a normal spirit was like? Is this how stupid little Djinni and Foliots felt when they were in this world, because it was not a pleasant feeling. For once I felt so... contained, so trapped, for once in over 4000 years I even noticed and endured the pain which came with a spirit being on Earth. For once, I had no desire to be on Earth; I had no wish to be here. No longer did I want to fly around in a shape of my choosing, striking down enemies in a skirmish of magical attacks. Usually when I was on Earth, the power of a summoning never seemed so powerful to me. Although I had never tried, it seemed as if at any moment I could break free. But I never did, I liked being here on Earth; with a purpose in the world, even if it wasn't technically __**my**__ world. But this boy, this master of mine carried an unusual power in his summoning. I was bound to the Earth whether I liked it or not, forced to do whatever he desired. It was all new to me, but I knew I could get use to it. If any other spirit could cope with it, then surely Rekoj el Yeoj would have no problems!_

After the summoning, the boy had introduced himself. He had explained the situation of the war and who he was... 'John Mandrake' he called himself. After that, he sent all of us spirits to the register tent – with the exception of the Djinni who called himself 'Bartimaeus.' I was curious to know what was going on between them. Nevertheless, the force of the summoning contained me; and forced me to do as Mandrake instructed.

After we stepped out of Mandrake's tent, I told the group that I was in charge. None of them argued. So, as a group we all turned into eagles, and flew south towards the register tent. After arriving there, we turned into our preferred forms. I took on the form of an Italian commander who I had served under in the days of Rome. Negabor became a sort of human shaped being made out of water, and Faquarl took on the form of a cook. I guess all our guises were appropriate, except for... I turned around to face Ascobal. "What the hell? Look at yourself; you are a 9 foot high Cyclops wearing a loin cloth! Make yourself decent!" The Cyclops pouted for a moment before changing into a man dressed in a tuxedo. "Happy?" He asked. I rolled my eyes, before ushering the group into the tent.

As soon as we had stepped inside, we were blinded by the dullness of the grey tent. While the Djinni stared about the tent, no doubt criticizing the un-natural feeling; I walked up to the desk. Behind the desk, sitting on a chair was an old man. "Hello Mr..." I drifted off. Than noticing his name tag finished "Gary." He looked up from his desk, "Well get to it, say your names, your purposes, and your masters so you may be on your way." I looked around at the Djinni in the behind me, none of them had not even listened to the man. I sighed, than started registering my group, "I am Rekoj el Yeoj. That is Negabor, there is Ascobal, and the chef is Faquarl. We are serving Mr. John Mandrake."

He nodded than gestured to the door; I turned around and saw Ascobal jump on Negabor. "You idiot, you do not even know that Prague had the most..." I didn't wait for his reason for fighting to finish. I raised my hand about to send a warning detonation, when I heard the old man behind the desk mutter a few words. Immediately I dropped to the ground as a detonation sailed over where I had just been standing, hitting Ascobal off Negabor and out of the tent. I nodded to the man, "I think I can take it from here." He frowned before going back to his paper work. "Ascobal, stay outside!" I yelled at the Cyclops coming through the door. "Faquarl, give Negabor a hand will you? Once we are all outside, we are flying back to the camp as Canadian Geese." With that I walked out of the tent, and out into the clearing. Just before turning into a Goose, I slapped Ascobal across the face. A couple seconds later, Negabor and Faquarl made their way out of the tent and followed suit turning into Geese. Ascobal did the same. As one, we flew towards Mandrake's tent, in a V formation.

Landing in a little circle of huts, where Mandrake's tent was located. We changed into our preferred forms. I quickly glanced at Ascobal to make sure he was not in that hideous Cyclops guise; he wasn't. I gestured at the group to follow me. Faquarl and Negabor rolled their eyes, but nevertheless did as they were told. As we neared the tent, I heard shouting. I ordered the group to stop, so I could listen carefully...

"-Bartimaeus, give that back to me!"

"Oh, come on Natty-Boy. You can get it, just jump a little higher."

"Bartimaeus, I swear to god I am going to murder you if you do not bring that back!"

"Oh, how are you going to do that now? Shrivelling fire? I know your birth name, Nathaniel!"

I and the pack of Djinni behind me jumped when we heard this last sentence. For about a minute we all stood speechless as the argument in the hut progressed. Finally Faquarl shook his head, and then with a smile on his face, marched into the hut. I strode in behind him, without even calling him back or anything. This was going to be very interesting. I entered the hut to see a very pale version of the Master whom had summoned me. He looked as if he was about to become a ghost. Bartimaeus didn't smile nor frown. He looked rather amused, yet shocked, as if he was watching some theatre performance which had just had a big twist added to it.

Breaking the silence I said, "Nathaniel, eh? Very posh. Doesn't really suit you, I think that Bert or Chuck would suit you better."

At this the Djinni Bartimaeus broke out into a large smile. "That is what I said when I first learned his birth name!"

_Nathaniel..._ notice how I call him by his birth name now. Grew even paler, then just before he was about to scream, the paleness faded. Instead an evil smile appeared on his lips. I noticed how the smile on Bartimaeus face faltered before turning back to that amused smile he had had before. "You are all in for something I have endured for the last few years. Our master, is about to perform what he does best, creating horrible little schemes."

Nathaniel turned to Bartimaeus and said, "Bartimaeus, shut up. The rest of you-" He turned towards us, "-are any of you familiar with the Indefinite Confinement?"

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Conception, thank you for reviewing! I appreciate the feedback, and thank you for the Bartimaeus remarks. I try to do him as well as I possibly can. If he does something heart-warming, I always stop to think 'Would Bartimaeus really do that?' I look forward to reading Monomyth as well.

Cheers,

Joeylejoker

P.S. I hope this one was long enough. Lol, I do not like writing gigantic chapters. However in my defence these stories look a lot longer here in Microsoft word... Go on... copy what you see into Microsoft word. You will think better of the length. )

**Also, if you liked this story. Please check out "Through the fire and flames" by Allendra. It is the sequel to the popular "Just what I needed" and is very well written.**


	9. Chapter 8

_Author Note,_

_Well, I have decided to try and make all my chapters long now. Nearly 2000 words each or so, try to give the story more substance. I have been keeping this story mellow for enough chapters I think; I am getting ready to kick it into over-drive. Action, battle, and finally... the climax. Do not get me wrong, I am not even a quarter way through the story, but in the next couple chapters it is going to begin picking up some pace._

_Joeylejoker_

_**Bartimaeus**_

The moment lived up to my expectations. The fact that all of Natty-Boy's little squad of terror now knew his birth name was too funny to bear. I watched as Nathaniel told the group to go train a bit at the north side of camp, with the exception of Faquarl whom he told to find 4 tobacco cans. After all the other spirits aside from me had left, Nathaniel sighed and looked at me. At that moment a little blue imp flew into the hut before he could say anything, as the imp rested on Nathaniel's shoulder, I flipped through the planes to get a better look at him. He was a fairly skinny little blue imp with lots of shaggy hair... boring. Suddenly, the imp left the tent, leaving Nathaniel smiling with delight. "If you are going to get the rosemary ready, please do not throw it at me. I am sure it is perfectly fine." I pleaded. He shook his head, "plenty of time to do that later. Right now, there is some business to attend to."

On that last note, he walked towards the door, opened it, and walked out. I trailed behind him in the form of Ptolemy, looking around carefully for any signs of danger. "Bartimaeus, if you are wondering where we are going, we are going to Dorchester bay." He waited for me to take the bait, however I remained silent. With a sigh he continued, "You see, the imp that came in, told me that Whitwell and her group of magicians are arriving, with the staff!" He looked at me expectantly. I did not give in so easily. "Well, stop talking, and let's go." I told him.

We walked through the tent, boy and Djinni. On the way to Dorchester bay, along the way, we noticed how we were not the only ones eager to see the staff. Throughout camp it had seemed as if half the magicians had come out to greet Whitwell and her reinforcements. As we neared the edge of the wall of huts, we could see Dorchester bay more clearly. A large metal and wood ship was just about 150 meters away from shore, just about to land. A large group had already gathered along the shore, made up mostly of magicians, with imps and Djinni ready at their shoulders. Nathaniel and I skipped (1) down a little incline, and onto the beach of the bay. As we cut our way through the crowd, numerous people yelled and told us to get out of the way. However, noticing it was Mr. Mean big bad Mandrake, they all shrank back. We worked our way slowly to the front to see Mortensen waiting for us. "Ahh, John, it is good that you have arrived. I knew it was a good idea to send the imp."

Nathaniel and I didn't really listen to him, or greet him for that matter. Yet he didn't seem to care, we were all occupied with the excitement of Whitwell's ship landing. I looked up at the deck of the ship, for a moment I thought I saw a flash of white hair and frail skin; no doubt Whitwell.

The ship landed, and immediately some Foliots ran to tie it up. After the ship was secured, a plank was lowered. Four Magicians and their Djinni came down the plank first, ordering their Djinni to clear some of the crowd away so there was a little clearing. Then down strode Jessica Whitwell, with Shubit, her Djinni, in cat form behind her carrying the staff in his mouth. Carl Mortensen made first interaction, "Ahh, Jessica! I welcome you to America." She looked at him, a bored but fierce look in her eyes, "Hello Mortensen." She turned her head, and saw Nathaniel and me. Her smile brightened, oh no; if she was anything like her apprentice, that meant trouble.

"Hello John."

Hello Jessica."

"I see you have the Djinni who helped you with the golem incident here." She said, gesturing to me. I decided to answer, instead of letting Nathaniel do so.

"Ello captain, Bartimaeus at your service. What do you want me to do, scrub the poop deck!" I swear I saw a thin smile appear across her lips, but it faded so quickly I knew it must not have been real. "Hello Bartimaeus." She said. Then snapping her fingers, she yelled, "Shubit!" The cat changed form into a business man, staff in hand; he handed it Whitwell. Taking it, she pointed it out over the crowed for dramatic effect, and said, "At first, I thought that I should wield the staff. After all, I am probably the strongest magician in our great empire. However, Devereaux thinks otherwise, he believes that the staff should go to our wonderful information minister. Of course, I cannot fight Devereaux, so..." She held the staff out to Nathaniel, "...I present to you, Gladstone's staff."

The look on Natty-Boy's face was to perfect, I thought he was ready to die for a second. He looked as if he could be stabbed a trillion times, and he would not care. As if he wanted to marry the staff (2). I broke his moment with ease, "Well, there doesn't seem to be a good bucket of water around here, but there is Dorchester bay. You of all people know I **do** have the nerve, eh Nathaniel?" His smile faded until he did not look quite so euphoric, he turned to me and whispered in my ear, "and there is a nice can of rosemary down in the bay, Bartimaeus, and **you** of all people know that I have the nerve (3). "Touché," I replied.

After the crowds faded, Nathaniel sent me to the training part of camp to meet up with the rest of his crew to train a bit. It is not that we needed training; it was just that sometimes we get a bit rusty, which is not good when your life depends on your performance in battle. I walked to the north side of camp, where the training area was. Essentially, a fence had been put up around 20 acres of grassy land, which had tons of large rocks, trees, hills, and other obstacles around it. At the entrance a big sign had been put up which said, "No Killing." At that moment, Faquarl exited through the gate. "Hello Bartimaeus, are you getting ready to train?"

In some ways, I liked being on the same team as Faquarl. We might hate each other, but we work well together. "Oh no, I am just standing around admiring this sign. Guess what; apparently it is not ok to kill." He gave a quick laugh, before turning into a roc and flying back into the training camp. Tearing my gaze away from the sign, I saw a large battle of about 40 spirits taking place in the area.

Every spirit was either blue or red, probably to symbolize their team. I looked around and saw Rekoj el Yeoj in his Italian commander guise, the commander wore blue. At the moment, he was duelling 5 Djinni. He was flipping through the air, every single detonation fired at him missing. Finally, he landed on a big rock, and rapidly fired 3 detonations at the Djinni. All three detonations met their mark. Then, jumping off the rock to avoid an inferno, the 2 last Djinni circled around him, one on each side. Finally, one of them fired a detonation, he dodged it easily. It spiralled over his crouched body, and into the other Djinni blowing the Djinni backwards. With one swift movement, Rekoj dodged another detonation and sent a deadly inferno at the last Djinni. It hit its mark, knocking the Djinni to the ground. Rekoj stood up straight, as if adjusting his posture, dusted himself off, then walked towards the gate where the 5 Djinni were recovering from their defeat.

Noticing me, he smiled,

"Hello Bartimaeus."

"Hi. Nice job there, 5 Djinni is, uh... good."

"2 Marids are harder."

"I will take your word for it."

With that, I changed into a blue gargoyle, and jumped into the fray. Arms swinging, claws, flashing, teeth snapping, wings trailing behind, I landed in the middle of the battle. Then dodging an attack, sent an inferno at the closest red sprit, he was a confused little foliot. Next minute, there were 3 greater Djinni trailing after me, I jumped, flew, and ran around the course (4). Eventually, they cornered me in the far side of the course, oh damn it. I knew I would not die, this was just practice. But, nevertheless, it would still hurt like hell. An inferno flew over my head, I narrowly missed it. Spinning around, I saw another Djinni about to shoot a detonation, when a spirit rammed into him. I flicked through the planes, and rolled my eyes, it was Faquarl. Well! Like I said, he and I work well together. I jumped into the quick little skirmish, Faquarl was in the form of a chef, jumping and ducking out of the paths of detonations. I went back to back with him, shooting detonations and dodging infernos. It was a good system; both of us took a Djinni to fight. I was circling with a Djinni whom was in the form of a lion, while Faquarl was exchanging magical attacks with a Djinni in the form of a jackal (5). The lion sprang; I rolled over as he fell to the ground where I had just been. Seizing the opportunity, I quickly I sent a strong inferno at him. It worked perfectly, he had fallen. At that moment I ran up to help Faquarl, he had been knocked to the ground where he was about to get a nice inferno. I considered leaving him for a moment, but then remembered; right now we were on the same team. I tackled the jackal; he flung me off, while Faquarl hit him with a detonation. We were closing in on him, when suddenly a hulking Afrit in the form of a roc landed beside us, whacking me 10 feet into the air and onto the ground. I rolled over and watched Faquarl dodge and inferno. Suddenly, there was a flash of blue and white, the Afrit was no longer there, instead, I looked around and saw the roc pinned to the ground by a smiling Rekoj el yeoj. The roc was just about to send a detonation up Rekoj's chest, when Rekoj flipped over the roc onto his other side. The detonation flew out into the air, as Rekoj kicked the roc onto its stomach, and put his boot on him. He then yelled out, "Rosso squadra! Il tuo ultimo Afrit è caduto prima di me, Rekoj el yeoj. La rinuncia, come la vostra lotta è ormai perduto!" Which in Italian, I knew meant, "Red team! Your last Afrit has fallen before me, Rekoj el yeoj. Surrender, as your fight is now lost." With that, he drove an inferno up the roc's spine. Turned to Faquarl and me, and winked, before walking towards the exit. Faquarl shared my astonishment, he, was good.

We trained for only an hour after that, an imp had arrived and told us that Natty-Boy wanted us back at his hut soon. We flew back with Rekoj and the rest of the group, Rekoj instructed us to be falcons. He was quite the control freak (6).

I had an idea of what we were doing when we landed in the clearing beside our master's hut (7). We walked up to the hut and entered, just what I had expected. The desk which contained ingredients has been moved into Nathaniel's pentacle; on top of it were 4 tobacco cans. Seeing us, he smiled. "Bartimaeus go inside your pentacle and shut up for the next few minutes, the rest of you, listen. I have bound you all to different tobacco cans filled with rosemary. Soon, they will be at the bottom of Dorchester bay. Here is the deal; the spell is set to confine you in them for all eternity in 3 months, unless I release it. You will all do what I say, and never let my true name be known to any being, and item..." He listed all the different things we could have done to let people know of his true name like usual, he was not very creative. I mean, come on! The same stupid stunt again? He could have at least made a slight change... a can made of silver for example. "-and to not store the name in a cup, jar, or any type of container." The whole group nodded; for once I thought his face had turned less pale... At that moment a large bang sounded. We all jumped at it, yet I was the first to run out of the hut and look for the source of the noise. I couldn't see anything past the wall of huts, so turning into a bird; I flew onto the top of Nathaniel's hut for a better view. Oh crap... at the west side of camp, I could see an army marching towards us. Foliots, Djinni, Afrits, and even a couple Marids were flying around in the air; human soldiers marching on foot. At the head of the group was a purple cloaked figure, wielding a staff made out of mahogany (8). The rest of my group, including Nathaniel ran out of the hut. "What is happening?" He yelled. I told him what I saw, I heard him swear under his breath. "Right, it looks like our first attack is coming."

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(1) Not actually skipped, just a brisk, delightful trot. Just pointing this out, because you all know... shout it as if it was the main line of some new hit song. And you were at that songs concert. 1, 2, 3, Humans are thick!!

(2) Which I am sure he did, mind you.

(3) I had to hand it to Nathaniel on this one; he was becoming as devious as me.

(4) It was a very well created scenario of what normal battles were like with me.

(5) Probably one of Jabor's old friends.

(6) Technically, Nathaniel is the control freak.

(7) Ahh, see? You want me to tell you, however I am going to leave that issue hanging to annoy you. After all, you can wait a couple more sentences, eh? If you couldn't, I would see a therapist about that if I were you.

(8) Do not ask me how I know this, I have served many places. Including, crafting guilds. Trust me, I know my wood.

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**If you like my story... or even if you do not like it. Please check out "Through the fire and flames" by Allendra. It is a sequel to "just what i needed"**

_Hey guys, this chapter seems a bit rushed I know, but please think well of it. This is my longest chapter yet; I am trying to get into the habit of making longer chapters. That way, the story might have more substance. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It may be rushed, but it has been thought out I assure you._

_Cheers,_

_Joeylejoker_


	10. Chapter 9

_Hey guys, sorry this took a while. I have been occupied... with Halloween! Happy Halloween to whoever went out! I partied, I trick or treated, I did haunted houses. I did it all!!! I am sorry it is really late actually, I finally sat down ready to do it, typed the first few pages, then.. My Microsoft word expired! Anyway, here is the battle scene... _

_Joeylejoker_

_**Forgot to do this at beginning of story.. blah blah blah, something something something. I don't own the Bartimaeus trilogy, Mr. Stroud does, and a good thing he does too. Although I think certain authors like Allendra and conception deserve to own it as well. Don't get me wrong, Kirby I love your story too. But... well, I do not think it is the type of thing to be published, no.. I think it Is just a really awesome parody, which actually has some substance unlike most parodies. Um... Let's see, Rekoj el Yeoj and Negabor are my OC. Yeah, I think that is it.. enjoy the chapter!**_

_**Nathaniel**_

The battle raged along the west side of camp, right outside the barricades which had been set up in case of attack. Spirits of all shapes and sizes flew through the air, sending detonations and infernos at each other. Nathaniel was currently in a little wooden tower near the waterfront, watching the battle progress. Bartimaeus was at his side, holding the staff.

The battle was not going so well, Nathaniel could not tell if they were outnumbered or not. "Bartimaeus, do they outnumber us?" "Ummm," came the mumbled reply, "I'd say we are outnumbered by about 10:12... Nah, more like 10:13." Nathaniel sighed, this would not end well.

There was a screech of wood on wood, as Whitwell stood, "come on people, it looks like we must join the battle. With Gladstone's staff in hand we will destroy them. I knew we all hoped to save it for the siege, but I think this situation calls for it to be used!"

_**Bartimaeus**_

Shubit and I had to fly Whitwell and Nathaniel to the battle scene. Mortensen claimed he had to stay behind to 'monitor the battle' (1).

We landed in a clearing beside the barricades, which kept the human soldiers out. Then when our masters walked through the gate, we followed them, guarding their magician asses. As we walked through the gate, several detonations slammed into the wooden structure, pulverising it. "Bartimaeus... shield!" Nathaniel squeaked. I erected a shield around in him – right in time too, the moment I had put it up, an inferno rammed into the side of it. A quick Djinni flipped through the air, firing more infernos at Nathaniel. The shield wouldn't hold much longer... "Nathaniel, did you actually practice how to activate the staff?" My voice could barely be heard among the sound of battle. I looked at him, to see a ghost white face bobbing up and down. "I take that as a yes... wow, your first battle. First minute, and you already look petrified!" At that moment, he quickly turned and incinerated the Djinni who had fired on the shield. I had to say, I was impressed, he caught on quickly...

There was a split second when we were able to think, before two Djinni came rushing at us. Immediately, Nathaniel started shooting one, however, he kept missing. While he did that, I exchanged detonations with one. Dodging a blue streak of light, I caught a glimpse of Nathaniel; the Djinni he had battled was nowhere to be seen. I landed on the ground, and rolled to avoid another attack, while Nathaniel blasted the other Djinni to bits.

"Well, Natty-boy! Do you have any tasks for this battle?" He looked around the battle scene, when something seemed to catch his eye. "Bartimaeus, watch out!" He yelled. Taking his warning I ducked by instinct, sure enough a high class inferno flew over my head (2). I looked around to see an Afrit land 7 meters away from Nathaniel and me. He shot a detonation; it struck the shield head on. Frankly, I was surprised, the shield still held. However, it was weak enough for an imp to destroy it now. The Afrit was just about to send another attack, when a blue glow enveloped his body.

It was as if time had frozen, the next seconds past very slowly. A blue aura outlined the Afrit's entire form, then as quick as it came, time resumed. The Afrit was blasted forward right into the barricade, where it exploded into purple dust. I turned around to where the Afrit had been standing; Rekoj el yeoj was there in his place, wearing a very smug smile.

He strolled forward, arms crossed, "Hello master... or should I say Nat-" He stopped when he heard Nathaniel mutter the first few syllables of a spell. "Rekoj, I know from experience that although our little Natty-boy here-" I broke off when Nathaniel punched me in the arm. "-like I was saying, our little Natty-boy here is not the type to be messed with, no matter how fun it may be."

Rekoj smirked before quickly doing a back flip through the air; he landed on a Djinni whom had attempted to sneak up behind him, quickly vaporizing him with an inferno. Nathaniel nodded his approval, "Rekoj, find the rest of my Djinni, and have them meet up with us." Rekoj nodded, before grabbing the closest enemy foliot he could find, and flinging him into an oncoming Afrit. I was glad that he was on our team...

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Mind you... I am sure Natty would do the same thing if he wasn't bearing the staff.

Don't be a marid, don't be a marid, don't be marid, don't be a marid...

_**Rekoj el Yeoj**_

The thrill of battle drowned out the unusual pain in my essence, it was still there, still there burning strong. But it was easier to ignore when I was fighting. Hopping across the battle field, I spotted Faquarl battling another Djinni. I ran up to Faquarl, pushed him out of the way of an incoming attack, before quickly sending a triple detonation at the enemy Djinni. "Thanks" he panted. "No problem, come with me, our master wants us."

Faquarl and I ran around the battle field for 15 minutes before we found Ascobal and Negabor, they were fighting a gang of Foliots. "I will take this," I said simply. Before Faquarl could respond, I ran up to the Foliots, and did a spinning jump over the group, firing as many magical attacks down on them. Only two were left when I had finished. Ascobal whipped two detonations at them, they were killed instantly. "Ascobal, Negabor, our master requests us." I said, they both nodded, before following me and Faquarl.

Nathaniel was with Bartimaeus fighting a couple Djinni, before we could help, Nathaniel vaporized the two spirits with a staff.

I strolled up to him staring at the staff with disbelief, "um, nice staff..." He did not seem to notice what I had said; he just looked up at the group, and gave us our instructions. "Right, we are going to launch an attack on the leader here, if we take him down, hopefully the troops should withdraw, ok?" We all nodded, "ok, then... Negabor, find out where the leader is." Negabor just looked to his right and pointed, "I think I have already found him sir." All of us followed his finger, about 400 meters away; the person who had led the army was annihilating a group of spirits with his staff. Nathaniel nodded, "right then, move out!"

I led the group in a quick sprint towards the magician. That Djinni, the one called Bartimaeus carried Nathaniel. We arrived on the scene, where 5 Djinni were battling the man; he kept zapping at them with his staff. Before we could attack, 4 Afrits jumped us. I sprang through the air, as two of them pursued me, while the rest of Nathaniel's group fought the other Afrits.

I was nearly 100 meters away from the magician, and I was still being pursued, time to fight. Taking the Afrits by surprised, I turned into a gargoyle. Then quickly, I did a back flip into the air, sending 2 infernos at the Afrits. While they were surprised, I glanced back at the rest of the group, there was only 1 Afrit remaining, they must have killed the other one...

The second I landed on the ground, I was tackled by one of the Afrits. I quickly turned into smoke, swooped around him, and turned back into a gargoyle. He tried to jump back up to attack me, but I quickly put a foot on his neck, and drove a detonation up his spine. He burst into an explosion of purple gas.

The gas provided cover, while I fired 3 of my most powerful detonations at the other Afrit. All of them met their mark, but... after the magical explosion cleared, I saw the Afrit still standing... he even smiled!

Confusion took hold of me, as I squatted on the ground supporting myself with a hand, "how can you not be dead?!" I yelled. Fear took control of me; I could hear my breath pumping quickly, steadily, as sweat drenched my body.

He spoke, his voice was loud, low, and imperious, the type which echoed from all around you, making you feel scared, as if you were trapped in a ditch and a superior being was speaking down to you. "I am not what you take me to be, puny Afrit. You cannot defeat me; I am a Marid, a strong one too!"

I was sweating even more now, panting as I tried to stare him down.

"And I, Marid," I spat the word out as I took another deep breath. "Am REKOJ... EL... YEOJ!!!" I sprang as the sound left my throat, and so did he.

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So, what will happen now? Will Rekoj be saved? Will he die? Who is the strange magician? How will the battle turn out? I have been contemplating writing more, I haven't though. I will leave it hanging. Next chapter should come quite soon; I want to finish off the cliff hanger. Also, there are a lot of mistakes, I have tried my best to get them out, and I am not sure how many remain. I was confident about writing with mistakes since I was going to get a beta.. Didn't work out.

Joeylejoker

P.S. Kirby, do not hope Rekoj dies, he is awesome. Plus I have tons of plans for some very emotional stuff with him. If I get this book done, I also have plans of a sequel; we have to see if I finish this one though.


	11. Chapter 10

_Hey everyone! _

_First of all, Molly, I hope you weren't angry. I love your fanfic, and thank you Allendra for finally reviewing. Do not worry, story picks up in later chapters. Also, I will announce that this chapter and the next chapter as well. Will probably be totally Barty! I just felt I hadn't done enough of him recently. I had some new ideas for plot twists come to me, so that may be exciting (for futures chapters that is.) Anyway, PROCEED WITH READING!!! _

_Joeylejoker_

_**Bartimaeus**_

The air in the dungeon was humid, damp and moist. The temperature was a mix of cold and warm, which was weird. You would expect a dungeon to have some sort of putrid temperature insured to make the prisoners suffer.

The dungeon was shaped from pure stone, stone walls, stone floors. I took it we were inside of some sort of cave. Water trickled through cracks in the wall. It could have been rain, but I had a feeling it was just the wet rock. It was hard to tell when you were chained up to a wall by your thumbs, after being beaten unconscious, dragged to the middle of nowhere, then bound with about 20 enchantments (1).

I glanced to my left, where Nathaniel was hanging; he was gagged and had various shackles around his hands. In this state, he could not cast any spells. To my right, Faquarl, Negabor, and Ascobal were hanging. However, Rekoj el Yeoj was nowhere to be seen. I am not sure where he went, the last time I saw him was when we were attacked by the 4 Afrits. After then, we had been knocked out, and taken captive.

_The magician had started firing on us; and eventually he succeeded in knocking us all out. That staff of his was strong, but he had not set it high enough to kill. Well... not for when he attacked us at least. Nathaniel had tried to shoot him with the staff, but the Afrit we had been fighting swooped down and stole the staff. So, now we were hanging in a dungeon, with the most powerful member of our team nowhere to be seen._

Well, I guess I have been in worse situations. Plus, I liked dungeons, not as much fighting going on (2).

I heard some movement to my left; twisting my neck, I saw Nathaniel's eyes slowly start to flicker open. "He's alive..." I cheered unenthusiastically. He mumbled something; I could not make out what he was trying to say though. "What Nathaniel? I am the greatest spirit ever? You wish you never summoned my greatness? You are sorry you got me into this?"

He relaxed, and started swinging back and forth; and eventually managed to kick me. "Oh, well if it is a leg fight you want, I can fight Natty-boy! You see, I used to play Aztec..."

I cut off when I heard a noise. Looking around the dungeon to where the entrance was. Two shadows were shining against the wall, outlined by a bright light, probably a lantern. Nathaniel closed, his eyes, and **pretended** to sleep.

Slowly, the two shadows grew, until two Indians entered the room. Each of them held a lantern. "Ahhh, look at our fine prisoners, Lasbaco! How are we doing, spirit." He said, nodding to me (3). "Oh, I am doing fine... just fine, although these chains are a bit tight." I shook my shackles for good measure. The Indian gave a toothy smile, "well you will not be in them for long. I have a feeling we will be letting you out soon."

I regarded him with a cold glare for a moment when I heard another voice, it was Faquarl. "Shut up you horrible excuse of a Djinni, and you!" He yanked his chains at the Indian who had not said anything yet, "what are you here for, foliot?"

Well, like usual, Faquarl had managed to get me confused already. A great ability that he had managed to master over the centuries, despite the fact I can confuse him as well. "Faquarl, what are you talking about? How do we know their spirits? Right now, one of these enchantments-" I kicked at the magical shield for emphasis "-Is keeping us from viewing the higher planes."

He sighed, "Bartimaeus, you idiot. If you used your brain, you would know how I figured it out."

I scanned the Indians, then, after a minute I shook my head. "Obviously Faquarl, I do not know, even though I am using my brain right now to investigate the situation. Which means, you do not know, or rather **did** not know that I would not know. Which means you are the one who is wrong here, do you know what I am saying?"

"What?" (4)

"Will you two stop your bickering?" This was the Indian talking now.

"NO!" Faquarl and I both yelled at him. Faquarl sighed; again, I was starting to wonder if he was depressed... "Bartimaeus, look again, the answer is staring you right in the face."

I looked at the Indian again, suddenly realizing what I had missed. "Oh, I get it." On the Indian's ankle, was a metallic band, engraved with the symbol of Babylon, and as far as I knew, the Americans had not traveled that far... And the "foliot" had one engraved with the signs of a foliot named Lasbaco.

"So see Bartimaeus? I did know that you know which in the end you knew. So technically, I am not the wrong one here. I am the one who knows, and you are the one who doesn't know."

"Hey! I am the only one who makes the annoying "know" ramblings around here."

"Bartimaeus, you do not know what you are even talking about."

"That! Faquarl... Is beside the point! Plus what would you know? Your depressed"

"What?"

"-Silence!" The Djinni-Indian finally yelled. "What is the matter with you two?

Faquarl and I both hung are heads; it was not out of guilt though. It was simply the most comfortable position since we were hung up on a wall.

The Indian looked at us expectantly, waiting to see if we would break into a fight again. I was just about to say something, when someone burst into the chamber. A column of smoke erupted from the entrance, as a Djinni stormed in.

Now, you would have no problem recognizing him in public. Essentially a being of fire and smoke, he was a true Aladdin character, fresh out of the lamp, a classic Djinni. What I am trying to say is that he looked like what you would normally expect a Djinni to look like... a being of smoke.

"Are the prisoners ready? He asked, his voice loud, and booming.

Before the Indian could respond, I answered, "oh, no, no, no, we are not ready yet. Nope, not at all, far from it actually, right Faquarl?"

"He is absolutely right, we are far from ready. Come back later please." He quickly added.

The Djinni who had the form of a.... Djinni, laughed an evil low laugh (5). With a sigh, he returned his attention to us. "I hope you two realize that this is not a choice, whether you are ready or not, I do not care."

I turned to my left, Nathaniel had one eye open and was taking a peek at the conversation. I quickly looked away before anyone saw that I was looking at him. Obviously I was unsuccessful. "Eh! Who is that there, is the boy awake?!" It took me a second to realize this was the foliot talking. However, no one seemed to even bother with him. The conversation juts kept flowing, "so.." the Djinni continued. "Aren't you guys going to ask what we are going to do with you."

"No, that my friend would be called 'taking the bait,' which I do not want to do. Since it will be your pleasure to tell us, and see us look scared. No, I am waiting for you to get bored and just tell us, because I have some self respect." I smiled as I finished my answer. Taking a look at Faquarl, I saw that he had gone nearly as white as Nathaniel. "Oh, come on Faquarl. Never seen a Djinni stand up for himself before?" I asked.

"Bartimaeus, shut up."

"No, seriously Faquarl, I do it all the time. One of the reasons I have so many adoring fans."

"You do not have fans, we are spirits, idiot."

"Well you wouldn't know with an attitude like that. I could never imagine being your fan."

The Indian sighed as he leaned against the Djinni. "You were not here when they had their last fight, this is going to take about an hour to blow over." He whined. I didn't really hear him though. Faquarl and I were still shouting back and forth across the room.

"Bartimaeus, you ignorant piece of Djinni scum!" He shouted.

"Says the person who was used to scrub the floors, while I accompanied the princess of Algonquin."

"That isn't fair! We agreed that we would both rebel then, I did and you didn't. End solution? I got various punishments while you ran off scot free! You went back on your word!"

"You have gone back on your word before! Remember that time in the Babylonian market?"

"Yes, but that was-"

We stopped as we each got hit with a blast of magic. The Djinni was scowling at us, "honestly you two! I have never had worse prisoners." He looked at us, waiting for our response. We said nothing, he continued, "well then... I will ask again, are our prisoners ready?" The Indian nodded. "Excellent! See how simple that is?!"

I couldn't take this much longer (6), they were being way to cocky...

An awkward silence followed for the next few seconds, so when I heard a stirring to my left. It was even more surprising. Nathaniel had 'woken up.'

"Well go on then, tell us what you plan to do to us!" How I managed to understand what he said was amazing, given the fact that he was talking with a gag in his mouth.

I looked expectantly at the Djinni. The way he and the Indian both smiled at the same time told me that their plans were not nice. "Oh, that is easy. We will kill you, and then we will have a trial... in that order."

(1) What? You do not believe me? Well, why don't you try it, eh? Huh? That is what I thought... you humans just do not get us! You're not crying while you hear me drabble on about my ordeal, or anything. Well, you know what. Maybe I will for 20 minutes just say humans are thick. I am sure you would not notice, since you cannot even concentrate on a simple chapter.

(2) Well... when Whitwell had locked me up in her mournful orb; that was a different situation.

(3) I really like Indians, much nicer then the snobby magicians of London, they even referred to me as "Spirit!" Also, FYI they weren't actually speaking English. They were speaking their own language, which of course I understood.

(4) See? I do confuse him as well 

(5) Ok, so not like the Djinni from Aladdin, more like the evil guy.

(6) Ok...I know it hasn't been too long. But, well... this may be hard to believe. But I... sometimes have trouble being quiet. What? Yeah, I knew you wouldn't believe me.

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I am very sorry this was really late, I got lazy... also be nice. It might have been a little dry. But plot twists will return, it is hard writing an entire chapter which is just dialogue.

**PLEASE REVIEW!!!**


	12. Chapter 11

**Bartimaeus Note to Readers**

Hello everyone,

I am Bartimaeus, normally speaking to lowlife humans is horrible, and I despise it. However, given the fact this is my story, I guess I can make an exception.

Cliff hangers occur when an author leaves the story hanging at a climatic point to make their readers annoyed or pissed off. It is often thought of as a wonderful art of writing, if you are a common reader you will have no problem recognizing this as pure bull crap.

I have left a cliff hanger at the end of last chapter, one which involved my possible death. However, given the fact I was narrating that part and I am telling you about cliff hangers right now. It is probably expected that I will survive, well... technically I am not sure whether or not that is a true statement or not. Whether I died back then or not is a mystery. It's a difficult matter. Nevertheless if you have the slightest bit of sense, you might be able to figure out what I mean in later chapters. Permitting if I do not leave another cliff hanger this chapter, you may not agree with that. But what do I care? I am the one with magic powers, what will you do about it?

If you do not understand what I am talking about now, that is fine. I do not expect you to understand. After all, humans are thick!

OOOO

_**Bartimaeus**_

The sun sat low on the horizon casting rays of beautiful orange light around the land. It was not too bright, more faded as if the light was a matter of substance. A wonderful magical wind sweeping through the forests and lakes as America began to retire for the day.

It was a good day to die, the slightly warm but gentle rays of the sun on your skin. Luring you into a peaceful trance as a small breeze of warm air brushes your hair up and down. As you stare straight out over a cliff and into a valley of forest below... It was indeed a perfect day to end your days.

While you were in a state of true happiness, where you did not bother to think about the fact you were not at all happy; to die while watching life blossom, and the sun on the leaves (1).

America was truly a beautiful place; it made me sad to think years from now; whether hundreds or thousands... all this could be gone...

Oops, my mistake... by 'It was a good day to die." I meant '**that would** be a good day to die.'

Oh no... Right now Nathaniel, Negabor, Faquarl, Ascobal, and I were being poked with a stick while being pushed out of a cave and into well... imagine what I said above, except in pouring, cold, miserable rain. Because right now was a crap day to die!

Upon stumbling out of the cave entrance, we were all immediately drenched by the pissing rain. As we kept on walking out, chained and garbed with a million enchantments the rain increased, and thunder boomed across the land.

I spat out some water and raised my head to take another look around, I couldn't see anything however since some of my wet hair had fallen across my face (2).

I breathed in deeply as the thunder boomed again, "I will ask again. What are you doing to us?!" I asked the Djinni.

I could not tell - the rain and darks skies obscured my vision. But as a streak of lightning lit up the hill, I swear to a marid that I saw the Djinni-Djinni smiling. "You may ask as much as you wish," he said, apparently not caring for the rain. "But I have said as much as I can... or rather want. We will kill you, and then we will have a trial."

"How is that supposed to work?" I screamed.

"You will see in time," he laughed his evil laugh again (3).

Just what I needed, not only was I on the verge of my death. But it was going to be delivered by a babbling idiot. Honestly, some people cannot shut up (4)!

It turned out the cave entrance was located on a mountain, so after walking for a bit we came to the edge of a cliff. I thought they might make us jump off, but instead we continued around the rim of the mountain, and started spiralling upwards.

After a while the path widened and I started to make out huts alongside the trail. Even some people showed up, all of them were Djinni (5). However there were surprisingly no humans around...

"What happened to all the humans?"

The Djinni (6) just laughed again and kept walking on. We passed many huts, villagers (Djinni), and other things.

"So... I take it this is a village set into a mountain?" I asked.

"No, it's a plateau, you will see at the top. Which reminds me, we are nearly there."

Sure enough the path started to even out, and after turning a corner we were on top of the 'plateau.' It was a small expanse of field. The rain had nearly stopped; it was just drizzling a bit now. The sky was still grey and dark however, and a thin mist surrounded the peak of the plateau.

We kept trudging on until we were by the edge of the Plateau. A steep drop straight into a valley; the one I had described at the beginning of this chapter. However if you have any listening skills whatsoever, you would know it was not quite as peaceful at the moment as described.

By the edge a crowd was gathered around a guillotine, noticeably far away. There was about 10 meters between the crowd and the execution device. Since I was standing about 5 meters away, I knew why.

Pure cold silver, the guillotine's blade was made of the substance which we Djinni hated the most.

We all stared at the wooden structure for a minute before someone from the crowd walked up to it.

He was the man who bore the staff in battle; I quickly flicked through the planes... he was all human. Well that was a first...

"We are all here today to bear witness as 4 Djinni and a human cross into our realm." He stopped as if waiting for the crowd to say something, "after the deed is done, the Djinni will be sent to the court, and the human," he gestured at Nathaniel, "will be sent to the mine."

The crowd nodded its approval. "Well then! Let the ceremony begin!"

Two guards stepped forward, seemingly out of nowhere and grasped Negabor by the shackles and pulled him up to the guillotine. He and the guards both twitched after coming within a few meters of it.

They lowered his head so it sat across the blades path, and what happened after then is kind of hard to explain.

Someone yelled, "Bartimaeus!"

Then a detonation was shot, it hit the side of the plateau blasting a tree off the cliff and into oblivion. Looking off the side of the plateau it was hard to tell. But it looked like a glowing blue dot was sprinting through the valley and towards the mountain... plateau, whatever.

"Turning my attention back to the crowd and guillotine, I saw one face I thought (and wished) I would never see again. I also saw the face of someone whom I thought I had lost.

Realization swept over me, but arose twice as many questions as I had before.

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(1) Thank you very much Nari for that one. – joeylejoker

(2) I always change into Ptolemy without knowing... hey! There is already a footnote? Who the hell is joeylejoker?!

(3) I am sure he has practiced that in a mirror before...

(4) *Wink* *Wink*

(5) When we left the cave, they had lifted the spell which blocked our access to the planes.

(6) I do not really know how to refer to him other than that.

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Mwahaha! Cliff hangers! Oh how I adore you. I hope you all like that chapter. I thought the beginning was brilliant and beautiful. Also I understand it was a bit complicated but I thought it was nice, and I hope you all do too! **Please review!! Everyone...**


	13. Chapter 12

_Hey everyone!_

_I really wanted to do this chapter from Barty's view, but when I wrote the first paragraph it just sucked. So I decided to do the smart thing, and take it from the view of Rekoj. Sorry this is late, I had some trouble deciding where I would take the story from here, it's hard to write when you do not know where you are exactly going, you end up just typing out a whole load of nonsense. So, that is pretty much what this chapter is, a whole load of nonsense. Hopefully it will set up the next chapter to come quicker, and to be better._

_joeylejoker_

_**Rekoj El Yeoj**_

A wet branch wacked me in the face, my pace did not falter though. I continued swiftly sprinting through the forest, moving too fast for my feet to make much noise on the damp leaves which littered the ground.

I looked up to make sure I was going in the right direction, and sure enough through all the wet leaves which hung in the tree tops, hiding the sun from the forest below. I could make out the mountain. My destination.

I quickened my pace, the faster I got there the better.

Ok, so most of you might think, 'why is he trying to get Nathaniel? He should want his master to die, so he can go back to the other place...'

Well, you are all wrong. I will not give up a battle, or hold back when my comrades are in danger. May not be what most spirits would do, but since when do I care? Obviously, I am not a normal spirit. I have a certain level of will power greater than any other Afrit or Marid...

I burst through a few trees and into a clearing. Took another glance up at the mountain and frowned. There was movement up there, and... A glint of silver caught my eye. I did not have to check, I knew what it was. We had used silver guillotines in the days of Rome.

I had to delay the execution a bit longer, and then maybe I would have enough time to get to the peak. I fired as powerful a detonation as I could muster. It hit the side of the mountain, right near the top and the guillotine.

Not paying much attention to the growing amount of faces looking down on me. I quickly turned into a roc, and started ascending to the peak.

I flew the height of the mountain in seconds, and once at the top, took the crowd by surprise. While they were still stunned at my sudden appearance, I sent infernos at the guards around Bartimaeus, Nathaniel, Faquarl, and Ascobal. The guards were immediately burned to crisp, and their enchantments were broken.

"Quickly, Quickly!" I urged.

Faquarl turned into a gargoyle, and jumped off the cliff. I watched as he started to fly away from the mountain, "come on!" He yelled back at our group. But the rest of the group did not hear, we had already been engaged in combat.

Bartimaeus had a shield put up around him and Nathaniel as he fired detonations into the crowd of Djinni. Negabor and Ascobal were duelling multiple spirits, and I fought what appeared to be the only two Afrits present.

They were not hard. The first one who jumped on me I flung off the cliff, and incinerated with an inferno. The next one came up from behind, but was struck by one of the detonations that Bartimaeus was shooting randomly. He fell to the ground, and I quickly sprang; sending 4 detonations ramming into him, he exploded into grey dust.

I surveyed the top of the mountain; Faquarl had flown back and was massacring a group of Foliots. Negabor and Ascobal were still dodging attacks shot by many Djinni, and the shield Bartimaeus had put up had been destroyed. I put up a fresh, stronger one around them, and started picking off the Djinni who were firing on Negabor and Ascobal.

However, I noticed 2 spirits holding back from the battle; lingering around the guillotine. Before I could give them much thought, Faquarl ran towards them. He had finished with the Foliots. However, 5 meters away he stopped. Staring at them, he continued towards them, walking now.

I turned my attention back to Negabor and Ascobal, they had finished with the Djinni and were striding forward towards Faquarl and the 2 spirits by the guillotine. Bartimaeus and Nathaniel had also finished their battle, and were walking towards the guillotine.

I surveyed the top of the mountain, and it was only then that I noticed a magician leaning forward on his staff near the guillotine as well. He was the same one from the battle. He did not attack though, he simply watched as our group gathered around the 2 spirits.

I walked towards them as well, "who are they?" I asked. No one bothered answering, instead Bartimaeus spoke. "Impossible," he muttered silently, staring intently at the 2 spirits.

"Who are they?" I asked again, not as nice as before.

"Old friends," Bartimaeus answered simply.

"No, I mean who are they reall-"

"He is Jabor," Bartimaeus interrupted, gesturing at one of the Djinni. "And she is Queezle." He said softly, looking at the other Djinni.

"But how, you are both supposed to be dead."

"We are," said Queezle.

Before anything else could be said, a laugh echoed across the mountain peak. It took me a second to realize it was coming from the magician, "reunited at last I see." He glanced around at all of us, still smiling. "However, I am sorry to say that your reunion might not last so long."

None of us spoke; we all just continued to stare. "Oh go on," he urged, "you were speaking a moment ago. Which means you're not retarded, or a mute." He surveyed us again, "well... the boy might be, he doesn't look too bright." He smirked at Nathaniel.

None of us even snickered; however I think I noticed Bartimaeus working really hard to keep from bursting out laughing. He sighed; "well I guess there is nothing to do now but..." he trailed off, staring out into space.

He kept on staring, until finally – after a few minutes – he stopped. Instead, the silence that had taken place was broken. He had started to laugh. It started as a little giggle, but grew louder and louder until he was laughing crazily like a maniac. We all just watched him; our reaction was not surprised however. I guess most of us had seen stranger things in all our years of service.

His laughing stopped abruptly, "ahh yes, where was I? Oh yes, now I remember!" He raised his staff.

Finally, our code of silence was broken... "WAIT!" Nathaniel cried. The magician's eyes narrowed and he lowered the staff a few inches. "Yes?"

"I still do not get what is going on here? You take us prisoners instead of killing us, your bring us back here to kill us instead... we run into two random Djinni who tell us that their dead," he gestured to Queezle and Jabor, "yet nothing is explained!"

The magician was quiet for a minute, "you know... I think I was right, you really are not too bright."

Nathaniel just scowled at him.

"Well then, I guess I might as well point out the obvious. Where you are now, is one of the most powerful places in the worlds of both Djinni and Men. You are in the realm of the dead; we want to kill you so that you will join us. However, rather than kill you in battle, we think a ceremony is more civilized." He stopped, to see if we were following.

"What we plan to do after you are all good and dead is well... it varies. You, young boy will be sent to the mines far under this mountain. There, you will join the rest of your race. You three," He gestured at Bartimaeus, Faquarl, Negabor, Ascobal, and I. "Will join our ranks, the wonderful spirits who control the realm of the dead!"

"I have a few questions about this," I interjected.

"Number one, you are not a spirit."

He stared off into space again, and quickly his face turned euphoric again, and his voice changed. It was high, and cackling, like the voice of a witch, "Ohhhhhhhh, that's a difficult little matter!" The magician screeched, he jumped around a bit, and did a flip. "You see, I am a spirit and at the same time am not! Hehehehe!"

We all seemed to take a small step back, "explain." I said sternly. His mood swings were getting annoying.

His smile suddenly faded, and he came to a stop. "Do you know of the spirit, Ramuthra?" He asked, his voice suddenly normal again. Most of us nodded, except for Ascobal and Negabor. "He is one of the most powerful spirits, above the strength of the marids." The magician explained, "where ever he walks, the planes bend, and reality goes into havoc. One time, when I crossed paths with Ramuthra, the spirit who was accompanying me and I had our souls combined into one. After that, he attacked us with balls of fire. Our Souls –"

He suddenly cut off, and started staring off into space. He suddenly turned his attention back to us smiling with that crazy look in his eye that he got just before he went totally insane. His voice once again went high, and cackling. "Our souls crossed into the realm of the dead, bound together for eternity!"

The magician raised the staff to us, "see you in the mountain." He said with a smile.

Suddenly, his head jerked to the right. "Get out of my head!" He screamed, his voice was normal all of the sudden. "Haha, yes... struggle little human!" The other voice cackled. "Shut up!" The normal voice screamed again.

Both the spirit and human kept battling back and forth, "I think this might be a good time to go." I whispered to the rest of the Djinni, they all nodded. Except for Bartimaeus, he was staring at Queezle who was staring back at him.

"Now!" I shouted.

Immediately, the whole lot of us flew up into the air, except for Bartimaeus and therefore Nathaniel. "Bartimaeus, come!" I shouted, sending a detonation as reminder into the ground beside him. He jumped back to reality, and looking around his surroundings realized what was happening.

"Oh." He said simply, as he sprung into the air, holding Nathaniel around the waist. However he was looking back over his shoulder, watching Queezle. She was on the verge of tears. "Bartimaeus!" She whispered, her hand reaching out as if she could try and pull him back. Bartimaeus had no tears in his eyes; however his sorrow was not well hidden.

He hung his head, hiding his eyes. He remained that way until we were about 100 meters from the plateau. "We have to go back." He stated. We all looked at him, shocked. "Why?" I asked. We hovered in this air, staring intently at him.

"We cannot leave Queezle, plus what about the British army?" It was obvious he was more interested in Queezle, and that the army was just an excuse to go back. "Plus, Mortensen and Whitwell are also being held there." He said to Nathaniel.

"Bartimaeus," I said sternly, "Queezle is dead, she cannot leave the realm. The British army has probably already been killed, and it is not like we have a chance of fighting off a whole legion of dead spirits."

Bartimaeus was silent, all of us were. When finally Nathaniel broke the silence, "we have to go back." He said simply. "Are you insane?" I yelled, "I have just rescued you guys from having your heads chopped off there."

"Rekoj el Yeoj, it is the realm of the dead we are talking about here. How can we possibly, just walk away? Think about how the world would be if we could interact with the dead! Plus, Whitwell and Mortensen might still be alive in there." I could see that my argument was nearly finished; I could see one of the real reasons why Nathaniel wanted to go back.

It was a powerful reason which could get a magician to do just about anything, it was glory. If he made contact with the world of the dead, the fame would be incredible on his behalf. Just looking at him, I could see he was day dreaming about what it would be like; for the world of the dead and the living to be able to interact, and because of him.

"Nathaniel," I said softly, "It's not worth it. Why do you think the world of the dead has not made contact with us?" My question was rhetorical, but I still paused. "It is not meant to be, and the chance that you could shape the world in such a drastic way is near impossible."

His smile faltered, and he looked at me, "so you admit there is a chance." He said, before I could say anything he continued, "in that case, we are definitely going back."

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_Hey everyone, seems I kind of am forming the rest of the story in my mind. A couple nice chapters of running around the world of the dead are in store. So keep checking in, once again I am sorry this is late. But when I finally worked out what I would do, and started writing the chapter. I had a sort of family reunion like thing to go to... anyway, please review! And if you are wondering, I estimate us being at around 3/5 or 2/3 through the story._


	14. Chapter 13

_Hey everyone!_

_Sorry this has taken a while, I have been lazy. The site has been kind of quiet, eh? Nothing much going up, so I decided I would finish typing this chapter. At this point in the story I would like to announce that if I manage to complete this fan fiction, which I hope I do. I have plans for a trilogy. This being the first in it, the second will be called The Lights of Svalbad. And the third, I am not completely sure about it. I find titles important as they are what your writing is going to be called forever, one of my favourite ideas for the third story titles is: A Spirit of Light. Anyway, those are just a couple little teasers. I will get on with the story I have not even finished yet._

_Joeylejoker_

**Bartimaeus**

When you see five birds halt, and hover in midair, it is a strange sight. What makes a sight like that even stranger is when those birds appear to talk – in English, among themselves. Nevertheless, it is sights like these in the world of the magicians which lead to some of the largest undertakings in the whole of reality; and in this case, the undertaking was an expedition into the world of the dead.

I did miss Queezle, of course I did! But how did I truly feel towards her? Not even I knew. I sighed, and made sure that Nathaniel was in my arms (1) and that I hadn't accidently dropped him a few meters back. It was annoying flying with humans, their so fragile. One 1200 foot drop and their dead! I mean come on, what use is that? Sure enough he was there though, still arguing with Rekoj.

"Nathaniel, how will we even get into the mountain?" Rekoj demanded, he was not that eager to cross into the world of the dead. Hmm, I wonder why... (2)

"We will find away," Nathaniel answered, and so our flight towards the mountain continued in peace until sure enough upon circling the mountain we did find a way. At the forest floor where the mountain touched the ground, there were 4 different doors, each facing a different direction: North, South, East, and West.

Each of them was about 30 feet high and decorated with different carvings, patterns, designs and a large golden handle in the middle. Only one word could describe the ancient doors: beautiful; so beautiful that they would have disgraced an Incan pyramid. (3)

We landed in a clearing in front of the south door; it seemed grand enough to be a doorway into the world of the dead. But at the same time, it didn't seem right. There were no people around, nothing guarding it or going in. What happened to the myths of Cerberus, or Saint Peter?

I know that those stories were probably not true, but I expected something - someone to be there.

"Bartimaeus!"

I snapped back to reality at the sound of my name, it was Ascobal. He and the rest of Nathaniel's group were trying to open the door. However, no matter how hard they pulled, it was to no avail. I sighed, and walked over to the group of spirits.

"You can't get it open?" I yelled.

"No," answered Rekoj, "the door does not have any enchantments, well at least none we are aware of. However, it is really big."

"I can see that," I mumbled as I scanned the planes, nothing. I scanned again just to be sure, again I found nothing, looked like we would have to just use brute strength. I walked over, and placed my hands around the handle – or rather paws I was in the form of a gargoyle (4) – and pulled as hard as I could. Not even the combined efforts of all of us could budge the door.

"We might have to blast it open," observed Rekoj.

"No, we cannot let them know we are here." This was Nathaniel talking now.

I scowled, how could we possibly get the door open? I thought about it for a few minutes, and finally it hit me. I ran to the side of the door. Between where the door met the wall, there was a centimetre gap where the hinges were. One of us could turn into smoke, slip through, and open the door from the other side! I couldn't believe that we hadn't thought of this earlier! After all, we are Djinni; turning into smoke and other shapes is what we have always done.

I proposed this idea to the rest of the group; they too were surprised at the utter simplicity of my plan. Nevertheless, it could work, that is if there were no other surprises... We selected Negabor for the job; he contorted himself into a very thin smoke, and started to squeeze through the side of the door.

The next minutes that followed were tedious; none of us could contain our restlessness. Nathaniel paced back and forth along the clearing, Rekoj did some stretches, Ascobal punched a tree, and Faquarl – like I – observed them all.

Until finally after what seemed like an hour, the door swung open. On the other side was Negabor in the form of a smiling being made of water. "Come on in," he cheered, "all come on in to the cozy underworld of the dead. You will all like it in here much more then outside in that wonderful, safe forest!

I saw Ascobal kick him in the shins on his way in, Negabor just snickered.

The door lead into a tunnel, deserted, and lit by torches every 20 odd feet. The walls were red, lightly decorated with carvings.

"So what do we do now Nathaniel," asked Rekoj el Yeoj.

"I am not really sure," answered Nathaniel, his face was blank.

Rekoj mumbled a few ancient Egyptian curses, "oh great, we follow a master who should be in high school right now into the world of the dead for no real reason, and he does not know what to do!"

Nathaniel snapped back to reality at Rekoj's yelling, "look, all I know is that we have a chance to make contact with another world, how amazing is that?"

"You make contact with the world of us spirits every day," I commented.

"This – This is different," Nathaniel stuttered, "This is the world of the dead! How can you people not be interested?"

Half of us raised our fingers in a matter-of-fact way about to answer, but Nathaniel interrupted us, "rhetorical," he said firmly.

"Well, if you have no ideas, may I propose one?" I asked.

Everyone just exchanged glances, "yes, and for the proposition, yes" Nathaniel answered. I smiled, but then as quickly as it came I quickly got rid of it – to late obviously, they had noticed, it was bad enough they already knew I wanted to pursue Queezle.

"Ahh, so you do like her," Faquarl was smiling.

"Can we just go?" Was all I said, not even bothering to answer his question, or rather statement. I started to walk off down the tunnel.

None of them moved, "Bartimaeus," Rekoj called, his face was solemn, "how will we even find her?"

I closed my eyes for a moment before answering, "We will find away."

"The underworld is full of a lifetime's... many lifetimes' worth of souls. There must be near a trillion people down here, and we do not even know our way around this –"He cut off, staring off into space (5.)

We all waited for him to come back for many minutes, I'd say about 10 had passed before we got any reaction from him. "That shouldn't happen." He said firmly. Before any of us could ask, he explained. "I know how the realm is laid out. There are many levels all leading down into Earth. Souls on the top level have just recently died, the further down you are, the longer you have been dead. If you are on the first level, you still have access to the world, as long as you do not make any contact with the living, unless you are waging war for instance. If you die again, you move down to the second level, eventually everyone moves down a level from the constant stream of new souls coming in."

I was staring at him, my eyes narrowed, "how do you know that?" I asked. He took in a big, deep breath, and remained looking away for about 15 seconds before turning to me and answering, "I don't know." He said simply. "I just... I closed my eyes, and suddenly it just kind of came to me" (6).

The bombardment of stares which were directed at Rekoj stopped after a few minutes, and we finally started off again, in silence we continued our way down the tunnel.

After about 1 hour and a half of walking, the tunnel opened up into a circle with three separate paths coming off of it. We took the middle path and kept going straight, straight into the heart of another world, another realm, straight into danger, straight towards destiny, straight towards love, and what we didn't know, was straight towards death.

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(1) No not THAT way...

(2) That is heavy sarcasm, if you did not realize. Humans... just so dense.

(3) How would I know? Yes, I guess you are right, I couldn't possibly know that. After all, it's not like I am an ancient Djinni or something.

(4) Oh, but enough about me. How about you? Hmm, a human. I can't say that I admire your taste...

(5) Why did everyone always have to do this? I was about to fire a detonation at the next person who got... well, whatever was happening.

(6) Joeylejoker: Do not worry readers, I am not just making a lame excuse, you will know what I mean eventually.

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_Once again, I am sorry this was late. Hopefully my next one will be quicker. Everyone please review! Long nice reviews... those are the things which make me write quicker. _

_Cheers everyone,_

_And a happy new year!_


	15. Note To Readers

**Note to readers**

_Hello Everyone,_

_It has been so long. To think that the last time I updated this was 2008. I still remember writing each chapter. I'll admit, I ran into a lot of trouble with the story plot and what I originally hoped to be a more realistic fanfiction lost a lot of its original realism and touch to the Bartimaeus trilogy. I finally did nearly finish the next chapter in this fanfic about a year ago, but something went wrong and I lost a lot of it... I never managed to get into the writing zone enough to go back and finish this. I am truly ashamed that I have left this for so long. Most of my readers have probably long since deserted me. However at the moment I am currently working on some writing pieces for admission to an arts high school. Once I am finished these in late January. I plan to return to this story and finish what I have started._

_In short, TSS is coming back. I will not let my fanfiction remain unwritten. I have no idea what I am going to do with the plot, but something is going to happen and I promise to make it up to you all. I got a lot of my writing skill from , you can see how my writing gets better and better from chapter 1 to the latest chapter. I owe it to you all to finish this. You can expect the next chapter in February. _

_Thank You,_

_joeylejoker_


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